Farmland Management Research Articles

Farmers’ Perceptions about the Effect of Farm Land Management Practices and Soil Depth on the Distribution of Major Soil Physico-Chemical Properties in Eroded Soils of Aboy Gara Watershed, Gidan District, North Wollo Zone

The study was conducted at the Abuhoy Gara Catchment, which is located in the Gidan District of North Wello Zone. The aim of the study was to study farmers’ perceptions about the effect of farm land management practices and soil depth on the distribution of major soil physico-chemical properties in eroded soils of Aboy Gara watershed. To address this issue, semi-structured interviews were conducted in 64 households to gain insight into soil fertility management practices, local methods were used to assess the fertility status of a field, and perceived trends in soil fertility. Thirty-three farmers were then asked to identify fertile and infertile fields. According to farmers response, farmers’ fields were characterized as fertile where it comprise black color, cracks during dry season, good crop performance, vigorous growth of certain plants and presence of plants in a dry environment whereas the infertile is where it shows yellow/white and red colors, compacted soils, stunted plant growth, presence of rocks and stones and wilting or dying of crops in a hot environment. A total of eight indicators (soil color, texture, soil depth, topography, soil drainage, and distance from home, type of weeds grown and cultivation intensity) were found to be used by farmers to evaluate and monitor soil fertility. The results of administered questions showed that the principal indicators mentioned by farmers as very important were soil colour (82.8%), continuous cropping land (72.2%), soil texture (62.8%), distance from home (61%), type of weeds grown (56%), soil depth (55.6%), topography (51.1%), and soil drainage (28.7%) as very important. So, among sixty four interviewed farmers: deep soil (60 farmers), soils near to home (60 farmers), forest soil (59 farmers), smooth fine soil (59 farmers), black color soil (58 farmers) and gentle slope soil (57farmers) are categorized as fertile whereas 59, 57, 56, 55, and 44farmers said that Sandy/coarse soil, shallow soil depth, steep slope soils and yellow/white, red soils and continuously cultivated soils are infertile, respectively. The overall result showed that there was good agreement between farmers’ assessment of the soil fertility status of a field and a number of these indicators. The soil laboratory analysis also corresponded well with farmers’ assessment of soil fertility. Therefore, to design more appropriate research and to facilitate clear communication with farmers, researchers need to recognize farmers’ knowledge, perceptions about assessments of soil fertility. Because, as they included all soil factors affecting plant growth, farmers’ perceptions of soil fertility were found to be more long term day-to-day close practical experience finding than those of researchers.

English

We investigated the effect of cocoa farming on biodiversity and ecosystem services under different cocoa management systems. The study was carried out in three cocoa producing districts in southwestern Ghana using Y-frame sampling scheme. Five 25 m × 25 m size plots were demarcated at 100 m intervals along in the cocoa farms and the natural forest reserves. Fifteen plots were demarcated in the cocoa farms per community giving a total of 90 plots. Significant decrease in tree species diversity and soil microfungi diversity were recorded in the intensive cocoa farmland compared traditional cocoa and natural forest. Soil invertebrate species diversity was high in traditional cocoa farms than in natural forest. Shaded litter fall production declined in the different cocoa management systems. Total nitrogen content and phosphorus were high in intensive cocoa farms and low in the natural forest. Soil organic carbon was high in the natural forest and low in the intensive cocoa farms. Total litter mass was high in the traditional cocoa farms and low in natural forests. The magnitude of carbon stocks decrease in the cocoa farms compared to the natural forest. For a successful cocoa production, shaded cocoa agroforest system must be encouraged in order to ensure biodiversity conservation, ecosystem services and a sustainable management of cocoa farmlands to check global climate change. Key words: Agricultural intensification, biodiversity conservation, ecosystem services, deforestation.

Mini-review of application of IoT technology in monitoring agricultural products quality and safety

Internet of Things (IoT) technology has been identified as one of the emerging technologies in information technology (IT), which is widely used in all walks of life in the world. The key technologies of IoT technology, such as radio frequency identification (RFID), wireless sensor network (WSN), sensors and global positioning system (GPS), had been widely used in farmland and greenhouse management, environmental monitoring, cold chain monitoring and tracking, and traceability, etc. As advancements in science and technology, IoT technology has been widely applied in agricultural products quality and safety, which brought a number of potential benefits for detecting agricultural products easier and automatically, improving the efficiency and speed of operations, decreasing the labor cost, promoting the agricultural products quality and safety. This paper intended to introduce the concept of IoT technology, the key technologies used at present and review the recent applications of IoT technology in monitoring agricultural products quality and safety in the whole industry chain, such as production, processing, circulation, sales and traceability. Challenges and trends of agricultural products quality and safety in the future were also discussed. Keywords: IoT, agricultural products, quality and safety, RFID, WSN, sensors, GPS DOI: 10.25165/j.ijabe.20181105.3092 Citation: Ping H, Wang J H, Ma Z H, Du Y F. Mini-review of application of IoT technology in monitoring agricultural products quality and safety. Int J Agric & Biol Eng, 2018; 11(5): 35–45.

Farm management fragmentation in Nova Scotia does not affect farm habitat provision

AbstractFarmland comprises an important opportunity for biodiversity conservation worldwide. The likelihood of a farmer fostering habitat for biodiversity has been studied from the perspective of personal or economic drivers. Beyond farm area, the geographic characteristics of the farmland itself—such as parcel sizes, numbers, and distribution—are rarely considered. This paper uses a landholder survey (n = 350, 37% response rate) to explore the variety of farmland management fragmentation and its implications for habitat on farms, specifically ponds, wetlands, and woodlands. This exploratory research was implemented in Nova Scotia, a relatively long‐settled province of Canada, which is subject to inheritance, farmland abandonment, and farm expansion. An index and a typology of management fragmentation were developed, based on geographical impacts (increased distance to travel and edge per unit area), drawing on hypotheses about how geography may affect farmer decision making about habitat. Results suggest that farm size matters more than fragmentation, but also that perceptions of ecosystem services from each ecosystem may have an impact. Suggestions for further research are provided, including alternative methods that could be used and testing these insights in more homogenous agricultural landscapes.

An assessment of the impacts of climate extremes on the vegetation in Mongolian Plateau: Using a scenarios-based analysis to support regional adaptation and mitigation options

Climate change is known to have an impact on the vegetation and on the well-being of ecosystems. Whereas there is a limited number of studies which have assessed historical vegetation changes in the Mongolian Plateau (MP), there are even fewer considering future changes. This paper therefore fills a gap in the literature, by investigating such changes in temporal and spatial scales, and by assessing their effects (1982–2100). The methods used in the study mainly included Pearson correlation and Mann-Kendall test. Results showed that climate extremes in MP, significantly influence vegetation growth. In addition, vegetation trends in MP, vary according to different scenarios. Potentially vulnerable areas of grassland and forest in the future are pointed out. Among the adaptation options available, better management of farmland and water resources should be pursued, and planting of vegetation types should be considered separately. Improvement of the barren area in MP requires international cooperation between Mongolia and China and it is necessary to integrate adaptation options into relevant policies. For mitigation, the projection indicates the emission under Scenario A1B is better for grass growth in MP and great attention should be paid to the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from grassland systems in detail, apart from the high quality and low GHG emission animal species, the types of intake grass also need to be seriously considered. In addition, management of sheepfolds in MP is also an important way to reduce GHG emissions. The results from this study will provide useful information about appropriate adaptation and mitigation strategies which may influence vegetation growth in MP.

Appraisal of Issues Influencing Soil-Steps Application for Sustainable Farmland Management in High-Potential District, Ethiopia

Soil damage by moving water is a somber predicament on farmlands in highland Ethiopia. Sizeable number of trial in farmland preservation has been executed to handle the crisis during the last tens of years. However, the attempts have not been vibrant to trim-down the danger to an attractive extent. This paper evaluates factors contributing to application of soil-steps (bunds) as sustainable farmland management technology (SFLMT) by smallholder farmers in one of the high-potential districts of northwest Ethiopia named Dangila Woreda (District). Mixed method triangulation designs involving concurrent acquisition and interpretation of quantitative and qualitative data were used in the study. Data were acquired from randomly chosen 201 farming households during the harvest seasons of 2011 and 2012. Ordered questionnaire, participatory field observation, key informant interview and focus group discussion were mechanisms employed during the data acquisition. Descriptive statistics (means, standard deviations and percentiles), Chi-square test, t-test and the binary logistic regression model were used to analyze the quantitative data. The qualitative information was textually narrated to augment the quantitative results. Findings of the investigation confirm that age of the household head, the number of household members, slope of the farmland, the size of the farmland held, households’ participation in indigenous labour-sharing activities and the number of farm tools owned were significantly increasing the building of soil-steps as SFLMT in the study district. Involvement in off-farm activities and pest invasions were considerably hindering farmers from building soil-steps on their farmlands. The results in general indicated that households’ access to livelihood assets are key promoters for farmers’ implementation of soil-steps on their farmlands. Local resource preservation and improvement trials should thus ponder on convalescing farmers’ material endowments to improve their capability to use soil-steps as SFLMT in their farming activities.

Water Resources and Farmland Management in the Songhua River Watershed under Interval and Fuzzy Uncertainties

The Songhua River Watershed (SHRW) in Northeastern China has been challenged by water scarcity, water contamination, and soil erosion for decades. These problems will remain or even worsen in the following decades, threatening regional eco-environmental quality and socio-economic development. Mitigation of these problems through integrated water resources and farmland management (WRFM) is desired but is challenged by multiple system complexities, e.g. interrelations of diverse system components. To fill this gap, an interval fuzzy water resources and farmland programming (IFWRFP) approach is developed in this study for eliminating the potential problems in the SHRW, leading to increased reliability of the decision support process. A series of systematic WRFM measures are proposed for enabling harmonious development of ecological environment and social economy in the SHRW. For instance, planting should always be the priority due to the major contribution of agriculture to the regional economy. As the primary commercial crop, rice cultivation should be allocated the most irrigation water, followed by corn, potato and soybean. Potato yield should be increased to compensate for reduced productivity of the other crops since 2019. It is also revealed that economic benefits are proportional to water environmental pollution in the SHRW. Therefore, decision-makers should adopt the most reasonable suggested schemes after fully balancing the trade-off of environment and economy. Most importantly, a variety of supporting policies are required for enabling sufficient implementation of these measures across the SHRW. For instance, individual farmers can be encouraged to follow the overall crop cultivation plan by the alteration of subsidiaries, taxes, and prices on crop-related activities. The modeling solutions show that the IFWRFP approach can systematically optimize allocations of water resources and cultivation patterns and thus potentially eliminate the problems of water scarcity, water contamination, and soil erosion in the SHRW.

Diversity of Indigenous Woody Species in Small Holder Farm Lands: Comparison across Different Agroecology and Land Use Types in Chilga and Dabat District, Northern Ethiopia

Ethiopia is known for its massive expansion of plantations and woodlots, that are mainly of monocultures of the exotic tree species, Eucalyptus, which has still remained the pre-dominant tree components of plantations as well as farming systems in different parts of Ethiopian highlands, including the highlands in North Gondar. However, the status of indigenous/native tree species in these areas has become very limited, and is considered at risk. The current study was conducted in Chiliga and Dabat districts of North Gondar zone; it assessed (i) indigenous woody species diversity of farmlands in different agro-ecologies and farm land use categories, (ii) management and conservation practices carried out by farmers, and (iii) major constraints for enhancing on-farm integration of indigenous woody species. Primary data was obtained using such methods as, formal household survey, group discussion, observation and woody species inventory in two villages selected randomly from highland and mid highland for Dabat, and mid land and lowland for Chiliga district. A complete census of all woody individuals was conducted on all plots/parcels of 80 households. A total of 35 species were encountered in the farm lands of the studied area. Six of the total species was exotic, and constitute about 85% of the total abundance. The number of woody species per household increased with decreased agroecological gradient, and the largest value of stem number was found at the highland, followed by at mid highland, whereas least stem number was found in the lowland site. Likewise, the study found that homegardens host more diverse indigenous species than other land use types. Even though farm lands in the study areas were home to different indigenous woody species higher in number than exotic species, it was possible to confirm the already reported evidence that revealed exotic species have been remaining the pre-dominant tree components of the agricultural landscapes in different parts of Ethiopian highlands. However, the fact that remnant native tree individuals are currently growing with in the agricultural landscapes is an indication of the opportunity for integrating and managing native tree species through Agroforestry systems. The study concludes that there is a considerable possibilities of native and indigenous species to exist as an integral component of agricultural land use systems in Northern highlands where Eucalyptus expansion has remained the main focus of research and extension efforts.

Effects of elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration on the stability of soil organic carbon in different layers of a paddy soil.

It is vital to study the effects of elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration on the soil orga-nic carbon (SOC) stability in different soil layers for better understanding the mechanism of SOC transformation under the elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration. The paddy soil in a long-term FACE (Free Air Carbon-dioxide Enrichment) experiment was selected as the research object. Through the SOC physical fractionation and soil mineralization incubation, the effects of elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration on the soil organic carbon (SOC) content, particle organic matter (POM) content, SOC mineralization intensity, and enzyme activities were measured. Then, the effects of elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration on the SOC stability in different layers were exa-mined. The results showed that the elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration had no significant effect on SOC content, but significantly increased the POM-C content by 93.7% and the invertase and polyphenol oxidase activities by 61.1% and 83.7% in the topsoil layer, respectively. These results indicated that SOC stability of topsoil was reduced under the elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration. However, the elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration had no significant effect on the SOC stability of deep soil layer. Our results would help assess the capacity of soil sequestrated and accumulated organic carbon and provide basis for scientific management of farmland under greenhouse effect in the future.

Net value of farmland ecosystem services in China

AbstractFarmland ecosystems are one of the most important landscapes in the world and provide many important ecosystem services for humans. However, most methods of calculating the value of ecosystem services (VES) for these ecosystems have neglected the costs of providing these services or have only considered direct costs. As a result, they have led to the adoption of uneconomical or suboptimal land use and environmental conservation strategies. Because it is increasingly necessary to identify approaches that will produce net benefits both for humans and for the environment that supports us, it is necessary to accurately account for these costs. In this paper, we propose a method for assessing the net value of ecosystem services (NES) for farmland ecosystems, which accounts for both direct and indirect costs, and apply this approach to agriculture in China to provide an improved basis for farmland management. We found that the NES of Chinese farmland decreased from 4.2 × 1012 RMB in 1952 to 3.7 × 1012 RMB in 2014 (1RMB=0.1628USD), in part due to reductions in the area of agricultural land. In addition, the NES in 2014 equaled only 47.4% of the VES, and this percentage would be even lower if more costs could be quantified. Because the direct and indirect costs differ among China's regions, the magnitude of this decrease also varies regionally. To protect China's food security and ecological health, the government will need to adjust farmland management in ways that account for these regional differences to ensure that both humans and our environment benefit.

Past role and future outlook of the Conservation Reserve Program for supporting honey bees in the Great Plains

Human dependence on insect pollinators continues to grow even as pollinators face global declines. The Northern Great Plains (NGP), a region often referred to as America's last honey bee (Apis mellifera) refuge, has undergone rapid land-cover change due to cropland expansion and weakened land conservation programs. We conducted a trend analysis and estimated conversion rates of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) enrollments around bee apiaries from 2006 to 2016 and developed models to identify areas of habitat loss. Our analysis revealed that NGP apiaries lost over 53% of lands enrolled in the CRP, and the rate of loss was highest in areas of high apiary density. We estimated over 163,000 ha of CRP lands in 2006 within 1.6 km of apiaries was converted to row crops by 2012. We also evaluated how alternative scenarios of future CRP acreage caps may affect habitat suitability for supporting honey bee colonies. Our scenario revealed that a further reduction in CRP lands to 7.7 million ha nationally would reduce the number of apiaries in the NGP that meet defined forage criteria by 28% on average. Alternatively, increasing the national cap to 15 million ha would increase the number of NGP apiaries that meet defined forage criteria by 155%. Our scenarios also show that strategic placement of CRP lands near existing apiaries increased the number of apiaries that meet forage criteria by 182%. Our research will be useful for informing the potential consequences of future US farm bill policy and land management in the epicenter of the US beekeeping industry.

Application of jasmonic acid can mitigate water deficit stress in cotton through yield-related physiological properties

Precise and appropriate management of farmland for a cotton crop to reach the highest water use efficiency with a low water supply and an acceptable yield is required in arid- and semiarid regions. This study in Iran aimed to find the most appropriate concentration of jasmonic acid (JA) and the best stage for application to cope with any negative impacts of water deficit stress. A split-plot factorial experiment based on a randomized complete block design with three replications was used in 2 consecutive years (2016–2017). Two irrigation intervals of 10 and 20 days were used, with four concentrations of JA (0, 25, 50, and 100 mg L<sup>−1</sup> ) and applications at three crop stages (vegetative, reproductive, and vegetative and reproductive together). The final results showed that the 20-day interval significantly decreased relative water content, the quantity of cotton, cotton yield and its related traits including boll number per plant, the 1,000-seed weight, seed cotton yield, lint yield, and lint percentage. It also increased the content of proline and soluble sugars. The 50-mg L<sup>−1</sup> concentration of JA applied at the vegetative-reproductive stages appropriately mitigated the negative effects of water deficit. These results are of practical application for farmers in arid- and semiarid regions with low water supply when irrigating cotton lands in order to reach an acceptable cotton yield.

Disentangling the effects of farmland use, habitat edges, and vegetation structure on ground beetle morphological traits.

Land-use change due to agriculture has a major influence on arthropod biodiversity, and may influence species differently depending on their traits. It is unclear how species traits vary across different land uses and their edges, with most studies focussing on single habitat types and overlooking edge effects. We examined variation in morphological traits of carabid beetles (Coleoptera:Carabidae) on both sides of edges between woodlands and four adjoining, but contrasting farmland uses in an agricultural landscape. We asked: (1) how do traits differ between woodlands and different adjoining farmland uses (crop, fallow, restoration planting, and woody debris applied over crop), and do effects depend on increasing distances from the farmland-woodland edge? (2) Does vegetation structure explain observed effects of adjoining farmland use and edge effects on these traits? We found that carabid communities varied in body size and shape, including traits associated with diet, robustness, and visual ability. Smaller sized species were associated with woodlands and larger sized species with farmlands. Farmland use further influenced these associations, where woodlands adjoining plantings supported smaller species, while fallows and crops supported larger species. Vegetation structure significantly influenced body size, flying ability, and body shape, and helped explain the effects of farmland use and distance from edges on body size. We highlight the important role of vegetation structure, farmland use, and edge effects in filtering the morphological traits of carabid assemblages across a highly modified agricultural landscape. Our findings suggest that farmland management can influence body size and dispersal-related traits in farmland and adjacent native vegetation.

Towards a Step Change for Enhanced Delivery of Environmental and Social Benefits from EU Farming and Forestry

SummaryMore environmentally sensitive management of farmland and forestry is needed in Europe in response to increasing public demand and to meet the requirements of EU legislation for example on biodiversity. However, the provision of environmental and social public goods from farmland and forestry is not increasing at the required pace. A step change in approach is required: the opportunity could be provided by the current debate on adopting a more performance focussed model of the Common Agricultural Policy. Current policy mechanisms, including regulation and a range of incentives to individual farmers, meet part of the need but are not sufficient. Detailed analysis of 34 cases across the EU has convinced us that a new approach based on greater engagement with a wider range of key actors through collective actions could have greater ambition. It could aim for greater scale, longevity and coherence of action across a territory or along a supply chain. Building trust and establishing the right form of governance for highly diverse networks and types of cooperation is vital. Commercial actors in the supply chain could play a larger role. Links between flexible and extended forms of policy support, including for new initiatives, multi‐stakeholder partnerships and projects and for facilitators, will be needed.

Women and farmland preservation: The impact of women’s participation in farmland management governance in Japan

Women’s empowerment is considered vital for successful natural resource management. However, owing to the problem of reverse causality, previous empirical studies have uncovered little evidence that enhancing women’s presence in community institutions for natural resource management leads to resource preservation. This study explores the causal impact of women’s participation in farmland management governance in Japan on farmland preservation. In 2010, municipal agricultural committees managing farmland in Japan set the goal of having at least two women members in the executive committee (EC), the principal decision-making body. We use the timing of the election of EC members as an instrumental variable. Using panel data on agricultural committees from 2011 to 2015, the results show that agricultural committees with a high proportion of women members show significantly greater improvements in farmland preservation. This beneficial impact of women’s participation is likely attributable to not only the increased role of women in decision making, but also the increase in the meetings of EC members for in-house training.

How can alternative farmland management styles favour local food supply? A case study in the Larzac (France)

This article seeks to bridge the research gap between farmland tenure management and food provisioning issues in developed countries, by focusing on concentration of agricultural production, access to land and local food supply. We conducted a qualitative study on farmland management in the northern Larzac (France), based on twenty in-depth interviews and document analysis. We distinguish six farmland management styles, i.e. local institutional arrangements encompassing organization of access to the land for farmers and relationships between land rights holders. They emerged or consolidated at three periods: a traditional commons style during the 19th century, three collective styles implemented by farmers’ organizations in the early 1980s, and two public styles on the estate of a local authority since 2010. The objective is to show that farmland management styles can serve as tools to foster local food supply, within “space-sharing strategies” based on the creation of farmland estates. In conclusion, we propose three guidelines for public decision-makers seeking, through land policies, to endorse local food provisioning: (i) include civil society organizations dealing with food issues in farmland management committees, (ii) return control of the commons to village councils, (iii) subsidize public acquisitions of land to support local food provisioning projects.

Impact of peri-urban agriculture on runoff and soil erosion in the rapidly developing metropolitan area of Jakarta, Indonesia

Negative effects of land use change on water resources are among the most important environmental problems widely found in rapidly developing urban areas. Preserving green open spaces, including peri-urban agriculture, has been emphasized in urban planning to maintain or enhance the water catchment capacity of a landscape. However, the effect of agriculture on water-related landscape functions varies depending on the type, distribution, and management of farmland. This paper analyzes the dynamics of agricultural land and its effect on runoff and soil erosion, in order to support agricultural land management in Jabodetabek Metropolitan Area (JMA) with Indonesia’s capital Jakarta at its core. In 2012, agricultural land in JMA covered 53% of the total area, mostly located in the peri-urban zone. Peak Flow and Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) models were used to quantify the increase of runoff and soil erosion in the three most important water catchment areas in JMA caused by an expansion of dryland agriculture and mixed gardens from 1983 to 2012. Critical zones, which generate most of the runoff and soil erosion, were identified in each of the catchment areas. While reforestation of farmland in these zones will be only an option on steep slopes given the great food demands and rural livelihood, adoption of soil and water conservation practices can make a substantial contribution to reduce flood risks and conserve the productivity of agricultural land. A specific set of policy incentives is recommended considering agricultural land use types distribution and their impact on runoff and soil erosion.

The Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps family farm land management benefit

The household contract responsibility system has contributed to the increase of farmers' income and the development of agricultural economy. This is a great innovation on the road of agricultural development in China. With the rapid development of China's economy. The shortcomings of the land management model are highlighted. Since the 21st century, the land management model of family farm all over the country. It has the advantages of large scale operation, high mechanized operation, high labor efficiency and good economic benefit. It is also suitable for the direction of agricultural development in China. The economic benefit of Xinjiang production and construction corps has declined in recent years, and the proportion of grain output in the country is decreasing. This has both natural and economic factors, as well as the factors of land management system. This paper takes the region of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps as the research area. Through the statistical yearbook of the corps and the government work report, obtaining information on the economy, water conservancy facilities and agricultural mechanization of the Corps. Combined with the questionnaire survey and interview of the two groups, collected the cost and benefit of two kinds of land management model. From the economic model, agricultural mechanization, ecological agriculture, comprehensive benefit and so on, compared two kinds of land management model. The results are as follows, the family farm of the Xinjiang production and construction corps has experienced a process of rapid development, atrophy and development. This process reflects that under the market economy, the benefit of family farm operation is obviously higher than the family contract responsibility system. To realize the comprehensive benefits of unification, in order to meet the wishes of a good life in the corps, the Xinjiang Production and construction corps shall actively promote the family farm mode.

INVERSION OF FARMLAND SOIL MOISTURE IN LARGE REGION BASED ON MODIFIED VEGETATION INDEX

Abstract. Soil moisture is an important parameter for agricultural production. Efficient and accurate monitoring of soil moisture is an important link to ensure the safety of agricultural production. Remote sensing technology has been widely used in agricultural moisture monitoring because of its timeliness, cyclicality, dynamic tracking of changes in things, easy access to data, and extensive monitoring. Vegetation index and surface temperature are important parameters for moisture monitoring. Based on NDVI, this paper introduces land surface temperature and average temperature for optimization. This article takes the soil moisture in winter wheat growing area in Henan Province as the research object, dividing Henan Province into three main regions producing winter wheat and dividing the growth period of winter wheat into the early, middle and late stages on the basis of phenological characteristics and regional characteristics. Introducing appropriate correction factor during the corresponding growth period of winter wheat, correcting the vegetation index in the corresponding area, this paper establishes regression models of soil moisture on NDVI and soil moisture on modified NDVI based on correlation analysis and compare models. It shows that modified NDVI is more suitable as a indicator of soil moisture because of the better correlation between soil moisture and modified NDVI and the higher prediction accuracy of the regression model of soil moisture on modified NDVI. The research in this paper has certain reference value for winter wheat farmland management and decision-making.

Status of soil organic carbon and nitrogen stocks in Koga Watershed Area, Northwest Ethiopia

BackgroundSoil organic carbon and nitrogen are key indicators to evaluate farmland management. Many studies of soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN) in Ethiopia had focused on either rainfed or irrigated farming. A comparative study was meager and less understood on the variation of SOC and TN between farming systems. Thus, the objective of the study was to carry out comparative analysis on the status of SOC and TN stocks between farming systems. Thirty-six composited and cumulative soil samples had been collected from 25 m2 plot designed at discrete intervals as 0–15 and 15–30 cm in both farming systems. Soil organic carbon and nitrogen were analyzed using Walkley and Black, and Kjeldahl method, respectively, and performed in Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) in Addis Ababa.ResultsThe result showed that mean SOC stock increased by 2.85 t C ha−1 (3.44%) and total nitrogen stock by 0.12 t N ha−1 (1.99%) in irrigated compared to rainfed farming up to 30 cm soil layer. Similarly, soils of irrigation farming had sequestered at the rate of 0.41 t CO2 ha−1 year−1. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that SOC and nitrogen stocks did not show the significant difference between farming systems (p < 0.05) because of slow turnover of organic matter. However, SOC and TN stocks had shown significant variation along depth (p < 0.05). Problems of soil acidity were found in both farming systems, but 9.3% mean pH value of soils of irrigation showed lower acidity than rainfed farming.ConclusionThe present study revealed that farming systems and soil depth had shown the variation in the spatial and vertical distribution of organic carbon and nitrogen stocks. Soils in irrigation farming system sequestered higher carbon and nitrogen and promise climate mitigation than the rainfed farming system.